Current Affairs - Miscellaneous - Discussion

The central government set up a new National Medical Devices Promotion Council (NMDPC) to plug loopholes in India's regulatory framework for medical devices to ensure safety of patients, pricing and restrictions on import of pre-owned equipment. The council will operate under Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and will have 14 members, including representatives from the Health Ministry and NITI Aayog. The NMDPC has also appointed the Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AiMeD) as a member of the Council. Currently India imports 70-90% of its medical devices with an import bill of over Rs. 31,000 crore. The move to form the council was announced by Suresh Prabhu, Minister of Commerce and Industry during the WHO Global Forum on Medical Devices at Visakhapatnam.